Soulmates ever after

Soulmates ever after

Lloyd Fox, Baltimore Sun

Theirs was a love story begging to be told: The grizzled old football player and his soulmate of 49 years, a spirited woman with a crippling disease whom he cares for, day and night, despite ailments of his own. On three occasions, at their farmhouse in Upperco, I met with Fred Miller, onetime co-captain of the Super Bowl champion Baltimore Colts, and his wife, Charlene. And though football had taken me there, the sport itself was only a conduit for the Millers' tale  one of constancy, old-time values and devotion. It was, perhaps, the most heartfelt interview I have done in 40 years of reporting. Those six hours of tapes seemed to capture every nuance of their relationship, from their first date as students at Louisiana State  he, the beefy son of a sharecropper, and she, a debutante and daughter of a state politico. Remembering the vignettes of having spent a half-century together, the Millers laughed and cried and even poked fun at each other in a good-natured way that only a couple in a sturdy marriage can do. As I left, a jar of Freds homemade pickles in hand, I knew I had a special story. But more than that, Id captured their moral compass to share with readers. -- Mike Klingaman

Theirs was a love story begging to be told: The grizzled old football player and his soulmate of 49 years, a spirited woman with a crippling disease whom he cares for, day and night, despite ailments of his own. On three occasions, at their farmhouse in Upperco, I met with Fred Miller, onetime co-captain of the Super Bowl champion Baltimore Colts, and his wife, Charlene. And though football had taken me there, the sport itself was only a conduit for the Millers' tale  one of constancy, old-time values and devotion. It was, perhaps, the most heartfelt interview I have done in 40 years of reporting. Those six hours of tapes seemed to capture every nuance of their relationship, from their first date as students at Louisiana State  he, the beefy son of a sharecropper, and she, a debutante and daughter of a state politico. Remembering the vignettes of having spent a half-century together, the Millers laughed and cried and even poked fun at each other in a good-natured way that only a couple in a sturdy marriage can do. As I left, a jar of Freds homemade pickles in hand, I knew I had a special story. But more than that, Id captured their moral compass to share with readers. -- Mike Klingaman (Lloyd Fox, Baltimore Sun)

Theirs was a love story begging to be told: The grizzled old football player and his soulmate of 49 years, a spirited woman with a crippling disease whom he cares for, day and night, despite ailments of his own. On three occasions, at their farmhouse in Upperco, I met with Fred Miller, onetime co-captain of the Super Bowl champion Baltimore Colts, and his wife, Charlene. And though football had taken me there, the sport itself was only a conduit for the Millers' tale  one of constancy, old-time values and devotion. It was, perhaps, the most heartfelt interview I have done in 40 years of reporting. Those six hours of tapes seemed to capture every nuance of their relationship, from their first date as students at Louisiana State  he, the beefy son of a sharecropper, and she, a debutante and daughter of a state politico. Remembering the vignettes of having spent a half-century together, the Millers laughed and cried and even poked fun at each other in a good-natured way that only a couple in a sturdy marriage can do. As I left, a jar of Freds homemade pickles in hand, I knew I had a special story. But more than that, Id captured their moral compass to share with readers. -- Mike KlingamanLloyd Fox, Baltimore Sun